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As it turned out, the wire from coat hangers was not strong enough to hold so I just made the stand out of scrap wood. The base piece is from a 6" board, the arms are from old 2x4"s and the cross piece at top is from a 1x1. I decided to add the top piece just to ensure that in my nervousness in handling the bars, I wouldn't accidentally knock one off.

Nice! I'm going to try to make something like this but I want to be able to put 2 - 3 bars on it at the same time.

I think that's a good plan -- I could comfortably fit two bars if I didn't have the back stop. We have a miter saw that I really like using, but I don't like the circular saw, so I went with stuff that was pretty much already cut and just needed trimming. I look forward to seeing your design!

[QUOTE=ruthiesbees;1096807]We may have gotten a little off topic, but I have been using a hanging file folder frame to hold my bars while I photograph them.

It's not off topic since the idea of an inspection stand was brought up in the context of inspecting TBHs! And the idea of a hanging file folder is awesome! (Now, if I can only get some straight comb, all will be well!!) Do you have problems with wobbling? I couldn't get coat hangar wire to sit securely, but the file folder frame looks much sturdier. Probably easier to carry than lugging about yet another piece of wood!

Not really wobbling as I have screwed them down tight so they don't adjust. I just need to clip off the extra on the ends. I am running out of room since my hive is growing in the number of drawn bars, so my space on the top has become more limited. I really just want to find some waterproof, light weight table that I can bring out there with me. I have too much stuff coming out with me now as it is, but I suppose if I sprayed the wires with Rustoleum, I could stash it in the bushes. I was trying to come up with some type of drop-leaf design on the hive stand, but I never found something that suited me.

I really just want to find some waterproof, light weight table that I can bring out there with me. I have too much stuff coming out with me now as it is,

I only have one hive and I can see that happening. Mine is still so small that I can use the unused portion as a table, but I've already wondered about having a portable workspace or just a plastic table from walmart!

I was only 1 TBH last year, and then it was only half full. So the other side worked great for a "table". Now in my 2nd year, I am at 3 hives (watch out, it's addictive) which are spread out in the yard. So yes, we really should develop some sort of table on wheels that will hold all the other goodies that we need at the beehive. Maybe a modified golf caddie stand with table attached. I'm sure we could make a fortune

Well, first official inspection happened this afternoon. The young man, Ryan, was very nice, and patient, too, given that our house isn't always easy to find. I only had to pull out a couple of combs, so didn't need to break up the cross-combed brood nest. That is clearly my next project, along with feeding them more (his main suggestion, after also mentioning maintenance treating for varroa as something to seriously think about). The silly bar I made with the hardwire cloth had not a single speck of honeycomb on it, so it was removed. Ryan suggested making bars per Wyatt Magnum's technique (using a strip of plastic foundation to help establish straight bars), and I will try that. Once there are enough straight bars, they can be used in other hives (when the time comes).

I was pretty excited during the inspection because we saw two very cool things: a truly new bee just emerging and the queen! I didn't get a picture of the queen, but I did get the new bee making her way out -- yay!

It's still seems to me as though the colony is fairly small, though they seem healthy. I will feed more rigorously...Ryan said there wasn't a lot of forage right now, and while the native bees/butterflies are seriously munching what I planted (especially the gaillardia), the honey bees are not. I've got seed for them, and need to get it into the ground. Fall is a great time for bees out here, so I may be limping through the summer.

I've seen the occasional bee on my galliardia but it doesn't appear to be their first choice. Generally they are all over my May Night Sage but right now Tulip Poplar and Black Locust are blooming and I haven't seen a single bee on the sage.

I've seen the occasional bee on my galliardia but it doesn't appear to be their first choice. Generally they are all over my May Night Sage but right now Tulip Poplar and Black Locust are blooming and I haven't seen a single bee on the sage.

Yes, this has been really surprising since the natives are going crazy over it! I have a neat photo of a sweat bee and horace duskywing both on the same blossom, the bee coated in pollen, but nary a honey bee. So, my planting strategies are switching to "honey bee" and not merely "bee". I ordered a pound of clover today (one especially attractive to honey bees, but cannot remember the type), and I've got borage and sainfoin to plant, too. The inspector confirmed what I suspected: fall is an awesome time to forage here, as it spring, but late spring to summer can be sparse. I will keep feeding for a while yet!

Looks like your bars might be too wide for the brood area? looks like they made 2 for that bar with a smaller space in between.

The brood area bars were cut to be 1 1/4", though they range from 1 1/16-1 1/4. My table saw arrived today, so I'll be cutting new bars that are more even. For whatever reason (perhaps not flat, perhaps because of spacing), the comb ended up crossed. Now that more of the first batch of brood are hatching, I don't feel so bad about taking care of the bars. I won't go all the way into the messed-up brood area -- I'll follow Michael Bush's directions and get one straight comb built, then use that as a guide, placing smaller pieces of built comb between the straight combs so that they are finished evenly. It's not unusual for bees to build the comb from different spots on the same bar, but I look forward to having a hive full of straight comb that makes inspecting easier!

I have a new style of bar in my hybrid KTBH/Lang/Warre nuc and had a cross comb incident with it. I had cut comb off two of the old bars and tied it to the new ones using gardening tape and had some movement on the far end. Tried to fix it and had the comb collapsed on me. It was packed full of nectar so too heavy. I ended up moving one down from the super that was properly attached and tying the nectar filled comb into a frame and putting it in the super. Yes, cross comb is NO fun.

Last year during the summer dearth my bees found my neighbors cleome. I was on a walk and could hear the hum from the street. Every bee in the neighborhood must have been working it. Must have bothered the neighbor because it was all cut down a week later. This year I am trying to plant some myself. I wonder if the honey from it is any good though because the plants smell like skunk to me. Maybe like goldenrod it is good cured.

The brood area bars were cut to be 1 1/4", though they range from 1 1/16-1 1/4. My table saw arrived today, so I'll be cutting new bars that are more even. For whatever reason (perhaps not flat, perhaps because of spacing), the comb ended up crossed. Now that more of the first batch of brood are hatching, I don't feel so bad about taking care of the bars. I won't go all the way into the messed-up brood area -- I'll follow Michael Bush's directions and get one straight comb built, then use that as a guide, placing smaller pieces of built comb between the straight combs so that they are finished evenly. It's not unusual for bees to build the comb from different spots on the same bar, but I look forward to having a hive full of straight comb that makes inspecting easier!

hmm.. guess you'll have to teach them how it is supposed to go

my gf looked at her/our hive yesterday and said they had built some comb up from the bottom haha silly bees. the hive is a few years old so most of it is good.. they just decided they wanted some basement honey apparently. she's going to pull it once it gets capped. Hoping to get a swarm off them to put at my place.